Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The past few days have been full of goodbyes. There have been lunches with out of town friends, coffee dates with local friends, and farewells to family. Some of the hardest ones occurred last night or today. I said goodbye to my fourteen year old cousin no less than four times, one of us always finding an excuse to see the other one last time.

In all honestly, I'm not good at goodbyes and avoid them any time I can. I'm the person who shows up at going away parties only to slip quietly away a short time later so as to avoid the goodbye hugs and tears. Every time I say goodbye, my stomach clenches, tears sting my eyes, and I don't want to let go of whomever I'm hugging. I go straight from being teary to the ugly cry so for most of this evening my eyes have been puffy, blotchy and my nose is red.

The last few days have been emotional and hard in ways I never fathomed. Leaving is hard. I know that I'm supposed to be going to Georgia and I know its what I need to do. Right now though, I'm just reminding myself that Thanksgiving isn't that far off and I'll be home again hugging my dog before I know it.

I'm leaving my hometown tomorrow morning, if you could, please say a prayer or send good thoughts as my family and I caravan down to Georgia with a big Uhaul in tow. In addition to goodbyes, the last few days have also been filled with frustration over some other issues, the Uhaul included.

Welcome!

I'm Mandy and hail from a small town along the Ohio river. I take comfort in books, writing, and my KitchenAid mixer. In October 2011 I uprooted my life and moved to an incredibly rural (though I didn't know it at the time) area in Georgia. This blog is a compilation of my life which includes thoughts I'm currently thinking, self reflections, favorite childhood memories, hopes for the future and everything in between.